ArtistSwedish
Börge Lindau
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Börge Lindau was born in 1932 in Åhus, a small coastal town in southern Sweden. He studied furniture and interior design at Slöjdföreningen in Gothenburg during the late 1950s and early 1960s, where he met fellow student Bo Lindekrantz. The two formed a design studio in Helsingborg in 1964 and quickly established themselves as one of Sweden's most productive design partnerships.
The collaboration with Lammhults Mekaniska, which began in 1965, defined much of the Lindau & Lindekrantz output. Starting with chairs such as Ritz and Royal, the pair proposed replacing conventional wooden frames with thick lacquered steel tubes in bold colors, a direction that broke sharply from the warm Scandinavian wood aesthetic dominant at the time. Their 1968 S70 collection brought the partnership mainstream recognition, and work followed for manufacturers including Lustrum, Zero, and Orrefors.
In 1986, Lindau and Lindekrantz parted ways and Lindau returned to his hometown of Åhus to found Blå Station. The company became a vehicle for a more reflective design practice. His Oblado collection, built on compression-moulded birch veneer rings combined with stainless steel and vegetable-tanned leather, showed a shift from the industrial language of the Lammhults years toward material craft and environmental consideration. Oblado grew into a full furniture family spanning chairs, stools, and tables.
Apart from product design, Lindau was committed to Åhus as a place. He used Blå Station as a venue for jazz, classical music, and theatre, and worked toward giving the town a dedicated cultural center. AOSEUM opened in 1998, just a year before his death, and stands as his most personal late-career project.
Awards during his career included the Probok Award in 1962 or 1963, the Lunning Prize in 1969 (jointly with Lindekrantz), SID's Design Award in 1975, and the Forsnäs Award in 1984 and 1987. His work is documented at the Swedish Furniture Design Museum (Möbeldesignmuseum) and was produced for the international market through Blå Station until his death in 1999.
At auction, Lindau's furniture appears primarily at Swedish houses including Ekenbergs, Crafoord Auktioner, and Helsingborgs Auktionskammare. Items on Auctionist span 17 lots, covering chairs, armchairs, and occasional tables. The Sparta folding chair from Blå Station has achieved the highest recorded prices, with a set of 12 reaching around 5,900 SEK, reflecting steady collector interest in his post-1986 studio production.